Upon request for the leadership meeting at my church... a letter describing my dreams for us.
As
many of you know, I’m a student studying Pastoral
Theology and Pastoral Care. What this field truly does, however, might be
something of a mystery. There are technical definitions that place it in line
with other academic disciplines, but the spirit, the essence of pastoral
theology and care is why our church is important to me.
As
our understanding of the world shifts, how we understand pastoral care changes.
For many years, it meant caring for the inner world of a person’s life, the
spirit, specifically within a Judeo-Christian context. It still does, but now
we see that the ethos behind it expands much broader than that. For example, it
is also communal and inter-relational. Professor Barbara McClure wrote that
pastoral care is “an intentional enacting and embodying of a theology of
presence, particularly in response to suffering or need, as a way to increase
among people the love of God and of neighbor.”[1]
As
one can imagine, teaching how to DO pastoral care is a tricky business. Upon
first reflection, it seems what people need in order to do pastoral care are
actually personality traits, like empathy or compassion. How can one teach
empathy? How can one teach wisdom? Instead of assuming these are inherent
characteristics, however, those who advocate for spiritual formation inform us
that these behaviors of empathy or compassion are not only learned, they must
be deliberately studied, intentionally practiced, and constantly encouraged.
Our church,
like all faith communities, seeks to enact and embody a theology, one
symbolized by the opening statement of worship – “No matter who you are or
where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here.” Being welcoming and
being hospitable are not just practices of theology, they are practices of
pastoral care.
My
dream for our congregation is to dig deep, study, and dialogue with sacred
intention how we want to live out our theology and pastoral care. Being chair
of Christian Service Committee this year gave me new perspective how hard it is
to step away from all the action in order to truly understand why we are acting
and how the acting shapes and forms us spiritually. There are trained
theologians who specialize in helping congregations live out the theology they
wish to embody. I strongly encourage we invite these specialists into our
circle as the plans for capital campaigns and restructuring the physical and
practical aspects of our church are imagined. While we welcome multiple
perspectives within the UCC, there is still a core theology, a core value that
we represent. It is bigger than a tagline or a slogan. It is centuries of
theological process and development. Let’s embrace it in all its meaning.
Below
are some quotes about hospitality to ponder--- quotes that demonstrate
hospitality defines our social justice action as much as our worship as much as
our fellowship--- Hospitality is at the core of my life as a Christian, as a
minister and hospice chaplain, as a student of theology, and as fellow human on
this planet.
'The rest must go hungry, their community dehumanised, and the earth pillaged and the earth polluted. One could sum up all this with the observation that globalization knows nothing of hospitality.'– Mercy Amba Oduyoye
Hospitality means we take people into the space that is our lives and our minds and our hearts and our work and our efforts. Hospitality is the way we come out of ourselves. It is the first step toward dismantling the barriers of the world. Hospitality is the way we turn a prejudiced world around, one heart at a time.— Joan Chittister in Wisdom Distilled from the Daily
[1] (2011-09-23). The Wiley Blackwell Companion
to Practical Theology (Wiley Blackwell Companions to Religion) (p. 270). Wiley.
Kindle Edition.
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